Stickybottle

Matt Teggart hopeful crash will not keep him out for long

Posted on: April 20th, 2017

Matt Teggart hopeful crash will not keep him out for long

Matt Teggart came down in a crash last weekend and now faces a period out of racing action. He can still train so he should not lose too much fitness. The An Post Rás is still very much part of his plan.

Matt Teggart has suffered a setback after fracturing his elbow in a crash at the U23 Liége Bastogne Liége last weekend.

The An Post-ChainReaction man came down after colliding with another rider.

He will now be out of racing for a period, though he doesn’t believe the An Post Rás is beyond him.

“It was just a freak accident really,” he said. “All was cool and relaxed 40 kilometres into the race when we hit a descent and it all bunched up.

“The lad in front of me was taking a drink or eating. But with one hand on the bars he hit a hole and just lost it doing about 60kph.

“I was right behind him and just piled straight over the top of him,” Teggart said.

He was left on the ground with severe pain to his elbow. The diagnosis was a fracture to his elbow.

Testing times for Teggart

It has not been a straightforward season for Teggart so far. A knee injury kept him out for a short period in the early season.

But he has shown great resolve to come back and has ridden very strongly in a number of races.

He should get back to full fitness in a matter of weeks, provided all goes okay with his rehab.

The 21-year-old began his career with Banbridge CC. He raced in France last year before stepping up to Continental level this season.

Teggart has also become a regular on the U23 Irish team and rode the Rás last year on the national team.

Comments

comments

Where did the name come from?

A stickybottle, put simply, is the knackered cyclist’s best friend.
As a rider is being dropped from a group, the team manager or support worker in a following car holds a bottle out the window to hand it up.
As the handover is taking place, the rider grabs the bottle tight, as does whoever is handing it up, enabling the rider get a good tow and push from momentum of the car.
It’s known as a stickybottle because it appears neither the rider nor the person handing it up is able to take their hand off the bottle; it looks stuck to their hands.
But please don’t try this at home. We’ve been slyly cheating this way all our lives; it takes a while to perfect.